The arrest of Ron Hirsch, the man local authorities believe was behind the bombing outside the Chabad of Santa Monica, has prompted responses from the Anti-Defamation League and individuals involved with the case.
“We thank and commend our partners in law enforcement – Santa Monica Police Department, FBI, ATF and other law enforcement agencies – for their diligence in investigating this crime and for taking a potential threat against area synagogues seriously,” said Amanda Susskind, ADL Pacific Southwest Regional Director, in a statement released earlier today.
On Monday, ADL put out an alert to synagogues and Jewish centers nationwide after it was reported that Hirsch had fled Los Angeles.
Rabbi Sruly Wolf, a Cleveland-based rabbi who was notified that Hirsch was in the area prior to his arrest, said that his community reacted calmly to Hirsch’s presence.
“People are fine,” Wolf, a chaplain for the Cleveland police and FBI, said, speaking of those in his community. “I don’t think there was ever a threat from him, [given] the fact that police responded immediately and handled it.”
Wolf was notified about Hirsch’s presence in Cleveland by a rabbi in the Cleveland Heights orthodox community, after Hirsch sought out shelter at a private charity known in the neighborhood. This rabbi, who has asked not to be identified, consulted with Wolf before notifying local authorities about Hirsch.
Wolf said that Hirsch, prior to his arrest, was in the Cleveland-based synagogue Agudath Israel.
“He was sitting in the shul, with a yamacha and he had a book open and he was soliciting donations,” Wolf said.
For more on Hirsch’s arrest, click here.
Kelly Hartog of MarVista Patch has written an intersting opinion piece about Hirsch and the Chabad explosion.
The entire handling of the explosion at the Chabad Lubavitch synagogue in Santa Monica on Thursday is what we would call in Israel a fashla. A fashla is best translated as a screwup, and we have receive more contradictory statements from the authorities on this case every day.
To read more, click here.
